The new Truveo Facebook app allows users to search a database of videos and channels directly within the social network as well as share videos with others. The app also allows users to find content via a friend’s recommendations based on their interests.

As part of the app, Truveo is introducing a new feature that allows users to track a celebrity’s voice in a video using the audio track. The new feature called Truveo Celebrity Search, lets users follow celebrities online and comment on what they say.

"The launch of our Facebook application, featuring our innovative technology allowing users to search by celebrity voice recognition, brings us to the forefront of the sector," said Pete Kocks, vice president, Truveo, Inc.

"We recognize that Facebook is the online equivalent of the company water cooler where people meet and share information. Our application provides users a comprehensive index of video, television and celebrity voice content now delivered all in one easy place."

The Truveo Facebook app allows users to:

*Search and browse video recommendations from over 500 million videos.

*Receive personalized video recommendations.

*Find and share music videos.

*Receive Facebook and email alerts of new television and celebrity content.
 

Two days ago, Silicon Alley Insider published an article titled "AOL Ventures is Killing Truveo."  The piece documented a recent massive drop-off in traffic.  Truveo President Pete Kocks responded to say, "AOL Ventures isn’t killing Truveo – Google is."

Kocks later continued, "Starting June 16th, 2009, Google began removing all references to Truveo.com from Google web search and consequently our traffic took a substantial hit.  At that time, we were almost completely excluded from Google results  — not even the contact page on Truveo.com was available via web search.  The reality is that Truveo uses a number of industry standard techniques to increase traffic from web search and that Google is treating us differently than our competitors."

Compete statistics sort of back up Kocks’s claims, too.  Obviously, Truveo is having a traffic crisis.  Then, if you look closer, you’ll notice that Google doesn’t even appear on the list of Truveo’s top referral sites, whereas it’s number one where YouTube, DailyMotion, and Blinkx are concerned.

So did Google blacklist AOL’s video search offering out of spite?  Or did Truveo’s president overlook some sort of SEO-related reason for the change?  Have your say below.  A key point: either way, Kocks seems to have admitted that something’s killing Truveo.

"With the launch of the new Truveo.com, we are showcasing the breadth of content discoverable in our search engine," says Pete Kocks, who is President of Truveo, as well as Vice President of AOL. "With thousands of channels and TV shows in our index, Truveo has long been recognized as a leader in video search technology, and today we are building on that reputation with an improved experience that makes discovering and sharing video content even easier and more personalized."

Truveo boasts 25.6 million unique visitors, but more importantly to those visitors, it boasts over 350 million videos from thousands of sources. The update includes a redesigned homepage with improved search and browsing functionality as well as upgraded load times.

The update gives uers more personalized control over search. This includes navigation via channel, category, show, popularity, and most followed on Twitter. Searches can also be filtered to find videos from the users’ favorite channels and sites.

Also, Truveo has added more sharing features that let users save and send their favorite videos and search terms to friends through Facebook, MySpace, StumbleUpon and Bebo.

Truveo sites use localized ranking algorithms. This means results will be tailored to the user on a local level.

The new Truveo is available t Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, The Netherlands, Russia, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

In addition to the site’s relaunch, Truveo has entered partnerships with Univision Interactive Media and Tiscali Italia. The former is the most visited Spanish-language site among US Hispanics according to Truveo.

The new features for the iPhone application includes "Intelligent Query Completion" which assists users by suggesting keywords or television shows. Users can also search for videos by length.

Pete Kocks
President of Truveo
Vice President of AOL

"Truveo was the first company to release a video search application on the iPhone and we’re delighted to be the first to release a second generation video search app, one that incorporates much of the feedback we’ve received from users," said Pete Kocks, President of Truveo and Vice President of AOL.

"With the most comprehensive video search index and a widely praised iPhone application, Truveo is perfectly positioned to continue to lead in video search."

The Truveo Mobile Video Search for the iPhone app allows users to access more than 145 million videos. In addition Truveo now features a "What’s Hot" section of the most popular videos across the Web.

Truveo first launched its free video search app for the iPhone in July 2008, and since then users have viewed 3 million videos.
 

It’s the first time that ESPN has made its video content available through an Internet portal. ESPN will provide highlights from games and sporting events along with video clips via an embedded ESPN video player.

ESPN on AOL Video
(Photo Credit: Aol Video)

ESPN says the deal with AOL will expand its online reach leading to increased ad revenue. "Our advertisers benefit from a larger online video audience," said Matt Murphy, senior vice president, digital video distribution at ESPN. "The potential is tremendous."

Content available on AOL from ESPN will include "SportsCenter Right Now," a twice daily recap of sports stories, highlights and breaking news; clips from ESPN programs including "Mike and Mike in the Morning," "Pardon the Interruption" and "Around the Horn." The video player will also have links to ESPN.com content related to the video topics.

Users will be able to access the ESPN content through AOL Video’s channel tab located on the homepage. ESPN videos can also be found through AOL’s video search, which is powered by its video search engine, Truveo.

In 2007, sports fans viewed ESPN.com videos more than 1.2 billion times, a 54 percent increase over 2006. On average fans viewed more than 105 million videos per month for the year (growing to an average of more than 127 million for Sept.-Dec).

Ever heard the saying about being spoiled for choice? Being a New York sports fan, the debut of Vault represented that in a big way.

Where to go first? Last month’s Super Bowl win for the ages by the Giants? Bill Buckner handing the Mets the ’86 World Series by not getting a hand on a Mookie Wilson ground ball?

Nope, even better. New York Islanders run of four Stanley Cup wins, with Mike Bossy, Billy Smith, Trottier, Potvin, Al Arbour, Tonelli, the Sutters, Nassau Coliseum. The days of a hockey dynasty.

We’ve been Truveo fans for a while, and seeing them show up for Vault should be an encouraging sign for sports fans. The company, part of AOL, does video search and presentation well.

The Islanders glory days ended with the maturation of Wayne Gretzky and the rise of the Edmonton Oilers; by the time I graduated high school the Isles had receded as a championship threat.

In the Vault, Truveo has 994 videos for New York Islanders. Trim that query down to Islanders Stanley Cup, and the tally goes to 72. Make no mistake about it, these aren’t digital quality videos, although it may be merciful that this video of the Isles versus Vancouver and the Canucks horrid jerseys isn’t crystal clear.

Younger sports fans with more recent memories of their teams should find better video results. Going back a couple of decades, the videos may not look as great. But as a vehicle for seeing into the past, Vault serves its purpose.

One takeaway from Vault and the videos they have: video uploaders need to attach accurate metadata to their content. The Media RSS module created by Yahoo discusses this further.

If there is one point of difference between Truveo and other video search sites, Truveo suggested in its election video announcement that it indexes what the competition doesn’t.

“Truveo

The site features election related videos from television networks, user generated video sites and the campaigns themselves. The site includes pages of the candidates in the Democratic and Republican primary races. Candidates featured include Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama on the Democratic side and Rudy Giuliani, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Mitt Romney on the Republican side.

Visitors to the site can sort videos by popularity, date and relevancy. The videos can be shared with friends, placed on social networking sites and can be rated by users. Fans of politics can find additional videos by doing their own searches or modifying examples provided by Truveo.

Truveo’s index includes videos from sites, including Politico, ClipSyndicate, Washington Post, and Townhall.com. Some of the video from media brands will direct users to the content owner’s original Web site to view the video in order to avoid copyright violations.
 

Truveo’s Tim Tuttle has a heck of a New Year’s resolution to live up to in 2008. To make it, Truveo will need to tack on another zero to the end of the number of videos they have indexed currently.

“2007 was an amazing year for online video in terms of available content, viewership and industry interest. 2008 looks to be even stronger,” Tuttle, CEO and co-founder of Truveo and Senior VP of AOL Video, said in a statement. “As we move to the era of one billion videos, search will be critical for anyone who wants to find something to watch.”

The tenfold increase Tuttle wants for 2008 would follow a twentyfold rise in indexed content during 2007. Truveo started last year with five million videos in its index, and grew to 100 million.

International expansion has been the key to Truveo’s climb. 70 percent of its visits come from outside the United States, according to their statistics. Across all the sites Truveo backs, more than 50 million unique visitors hit Truveo each month.

We’ve been impressed with Truveo ever since its public debut in 2005. Three months later, AOL acquired Truveo shortly after inking a new search and advertising deal with Google.

Truveo has been a treat to use for finding videos. Their collection of Iowa caucus videos already shows recent updates within the past hour, and should increase as the polls close. The Presidential election will help Truveo move toward that billion video goal.

]]> http://www.webpronews.com/truveo-aims-for-a-billion-indexed-videos-2008-01/feed 3 http://www.webpronews.com/crank-dat-truveo-searches-years-top-videos-2007-12 http://www.webpronews.com/crank-dat-truveo-searches-years-top-videos-2007-12#comments Wed, 12 Dec 2007 18:02:03 +0000 WebProNews Staff http://www.webpronews.com/?p=42626 Soulja Boy, Tony Soprano, and Miss South Carolina all rated tops among the topics people sought out through Truveo’s video search.

As the year draws to a close, lists become more and more of a part of the media routine, as both writers and readers have seen these days. Who are we to say no to the glorious custom of ‘top something’ lists?

Online video has increased in interest through 2007 to the point where people expect to find it on the websites they visit. Truveo broke down the top searches they have seen into top viral videos, TV moments, and music videos.

She may not have won Miss Teen USA, but Lauren Caitlin Upton may as well have been crowned Miss Teen YouTube after Miss Teen South Carolina’s now-famous flubbed answer to a geography question became the top viral video Truveo saw this year.

David Chase’s choice of a close to the HBO series “The Sopranos” had people frantically reaching for their remotes when the screen turned black. When it became obvious that the series had ended on that note, the querying began in earnest for what became the most searched TV moment.

In the music scene, Truveo said everybody wanted to “Crank Dat.” Even though it seems like Rhianna’s “Umbrella” has been everywhere, her video placed second in searches to Soulja Boy’s.

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